We’re not even halfway through the year, and already Instagram has exploded with crazy food trends. Mermaids and unicorns have become the biggest inspirations in the food world. Why? Because they offer just the excuse people want for insanely colored foods with sprinkles on top. But that’s not all.
We’re not sure what the rest of the year will bring, but we’re impressed by how much we’ve experienced in these five short months. Behold, these are all the crazy foods 2017 has left us with:
What makes a latte a unicorn latte? It’s not caffeine, because this latte has none of that. Nope, the unicorn latte whipped up by Brooklyn enclave The End is just honey, coconut milk, lemon and blue-green algae ― plus rainbow sprinkles, of course.
The unicorn bagel is a regular bagel that’s colored blue, yellow and pink. There are a few iterations of it, but this one from The Bagel Nook in New Jersey is stuffed with cotton candy cream cheese and unicorn sparkle dust.
The creator of mermaid toast, Adeline Waugh of Vibrant and Pure, admits that it’s not a very practical thing to eat. She just wanted to make something beautiful, and that it is. This toast is spread with cream cheese that’s been dyed colors and sprinkled with garnishes like gold leaf.
No crazy colors here, just lots of oil. First released at the trend-setting food fair Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the spaghetti donut is basically spaghetti that’s been fried into a donut shape. Pasta Pop, the makers of this food hybrid, wanted to combine a classic Neopolitan dish ― spaghetti pie ― with the beloved American donut.
The Unicorn Frappuccino is a non-caffeinated drink from Starbucks that has a mango syrup base, sour blue drizzle in the middle and vanilla whipped cream topping ― plus a sweet pink and sour blue powder that gives it its signature color.
The raindrop cake, which made a splash in 2016 when Darren Wong first introduced it in Brooklyn, has made a comeback with thanks to its new purple hue. The cake is made with agar ― a vegetarian alternative to gelatin ― and has gotten its colorful upgrade thanks to ube, a purple sweet potato.
Going in the opposite direction of unicorns and mermaids is black soft serve in a black waffle cone created by Los Angeles-based ice cream shop Little Damage. The soft serve started as an almond charcoal flavor, and is now offered in black rose.
All that, and May has only just begun. Since we’re only halfway through the year, you can be sure that we will be seeing many more colorful (or anti-colorful) creations in the months to come. In fact, Starbuck has guaranteed it.